Apparatus for dispensing and measuring strand material



March 25, 1969 J, SPRY 3,434,216

APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING AND MEASURING STRAND MATERIAL Filed Nov. 5, 1966 Sheet 0f 2 INVENTOR.

BY JAMES F. SPRY ATTORNIEY United States Patent U.S. Cl. 33-136 4 'Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An electrical control system controls apparatus for dispensing and measuring a plurality of cables. Solenoid operated clamping devices hold the ends of the cable until the proper lengths are attained. The cables are then selectively and individually released at the desired length. Various counting, forward and reverse control circuits are employed.

This invention relates to apparatus for dispensing and measuring strand material, particularly electrical cables, and has for an object the provision of improvements in this art.

The invention has been developed in connection with dispensing and measuring a plurality of electrical cables for wiring railway passenger cars and will be described with particular reference to this use. When a number of railway cars of the same kind are being built there will be a number of different cables or cable groups each of a predetermined length. It is a slow, tedious, and possibly inaccurate job to pull out, measure, and cut off each cable by hand and assemble the cables in a group. Some of the cables may be so large and heavy that hand dispensing is burdensome, making power dispensing desirable.

Accordingly, it is one of the specific objects of the present invention to provide apparatus for dispensing a length of strand material from a source of supply, measuring its length as it is dispensed, and halting the dispensing action when the desired length has been drawn out from the source.

Another object is to provide gripping means for the strand dispensing apparatus and means for releasing the strand gripping means when a desired length of strand material has been dispensed.

Another object is to provide a power-traversed carriage for dispensing strand material and means activated by the travel of the carriage for registering the length of strand material which has been dispensed as the carriage moves along its ways.

Another object is to provide means for slowing and helting the movement of the carriage as it reaches a selected point in its travel whereby a given length of strand material is accurately dispensed without overrunning the desired length.

Another object is to provide means for halting the movement of the carriage at the ends of its travel and reversing its direction of travel without danger of overrunning the ends of its ways or track.

Another object is to provide complete safety protection for the operator and the product.

The above and other objects of the invention, as well as various features of novelty and advantages, will be apparent from the following description of apparatus for pulling out and measuring a plurality of different lengths of wire bundles or packs each comprising up to ten wires, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a wiring diagram.

As shown in FIG. 1, a carriage 10 having a traversing drive motor M is mounted on ways or tracks 11 supported on a suitable frame 12. A flexible power and control cable 13 leads from the carriage to a control unit 14. The carriage is provided with one or more, here four being shown, strand gripping devices 15 controlled by solenoids SG (designated SGl to SG4 herein). The specific arrangement is that the jaws release the strand when a solenoid is energized. This requires voluntary manual action to open the gripper, as at the start and when a given length is measured, and avoids accidental opening, as by power failure.

Strands 16 is shown to be held at the end by one of the gripping devices 15 and as being pulled off a source of supply in the form of a drum or reel 17 under some tension to avoid slack, the other reels being shown schematically for simplicity as a block 22.

The length measuring means comprises an impulse device 1'8, such as a micro switch, mounted on the carriage with an operating finger 19 which engages evenly spaced operating elements, such as pins or bars 20 which can readily be shifted in location, if desired, along the length of travel of the carriage on its tracks. There may be as many operating elements as desired, the illustrated arrangement being one per foot of length. Impulses from the device 18 activate a counter 21 mounted on the control unit 14.

Referring to the wiring diagram of FIG. 2, power is supplied, as by three phase alternating current, at say 440 volts, by main power leads L1, L2, and L3. The motor M is controlled for forward and reverse carriage travel by power gang contact switches RF-l, RR-l respectively from relays RF and RR respectively in an offtake control circuit having leads L1-2 and L3-2, this providing 220 volts.

A manual control circuit is supplied with current by leads Ll-l, L2-1 and L3-1 through transformers T1 and T2. As long as power is available safety currenton relays RS and R6 are kept energized to hold closed their dual-contact switches RS-l and R61 in a line of circuit L3-1a, L2-1a volts) through a normally closed stop pushbutton switch 8-1 to energize an on signal lamp LT and supply power to the control circuit.

Forward traversing movement of the carriage is effected by closing a normally open pushbutton switch SF which supplies current to shunt relays R1 and R2. Energization of relay coil R1 closes its normally open lock-in contact switch -R1-1 and opens a normally closed safety contact switch R1-2 in the reverse control circuit.

Relays R1 and R2 are in series with travel limit switches LSF-l and LSF2 located near the end of the forward travel of the carriage along its track to cut off power and prevent over-travel, the carriage holding LSF- 2 open when it stops. A normally closed safety switch R3-2 is in circuit with relay coil R2 to avoid energization of the forward-travel circuit if the reverse-travel circuit is energized.

Energization of relay coil R2 paired contact switches R2-1 to energize power solenoid relay coil RF which, in turn, closes plural-contact ganged switch RF-l to cause the carriage to move forward.

Reverse traversing movement of the carriage is effected by closing a normally open pushbutton switch SR which supplies current to shunt relays R3 and R4. Energization of relay coil R3 closes its normally open lockin contact switch R3-1 and opens the normally closed safety contact switch R32 in the forward control circuit, as previously mentioned.

Relays R3 and R4 are in series with travel limit switches LSR-l and LSR-2 located near the end of the rearward travel of the carriage along its track to cut off closes its normally open power and prevent over-travel, the carriage holding LSR-Z open when stopped. The normally closed safety switch R1-2 in series with the relay coil R4 has already been described.

Energization of relay coil R4 closes its normally open paired contact switches R4-1 to energize power solenoid relay coil RR which, in turn, closes plural-contact ganged switch RR-l to cause the carriage to move rearward.

The four strand gripper operating solenoids SG-l, SG-2, SG-3 and SG4 are energized respectively by power relay contact switches RGl-ll, RG2-1, RG3-1 and -RG41 respectively, these contact switches being paired, normally open, and closed by energization of relay coils RG1, RG2, RG3 and RG4, respectively, when pushbutton switches PB-1, PB-Z, PB-3 and PB-4 respectively, are closed as the desired length of each strand is registered on the counter 21.

The counter 21 and the contact switch of the impulse device 18 are in a circuit of power lines Ll-Za and L2-2a of the transformer T1 (110 volts).

In operation, after the power has been applied at the main circuit breaker gang switch, the relays R5 and R6 are energized and remain energized as long as the circuit is energized. Assuming that the ends of four strands are engaged by the grippers when the carriage is at the rear end of its travel, the carriage is caused to move forward by closing the forward travel pushbutton SF. All strands are pulled out from the source of supply as the carriage advances and the length of strands is shown by the counter 21. As the desired length for each strand is reached the appropriate pushbutton PB1 to PB-4 is closed to release the strand from its gripper, the carriage then moving on without the released strand but continuing to pull out such strands as have not been released until they too have reached the desired length and have been released.

If desired, the carriage can be inched as a desired length is approached by alternately opening the stop pushbutton switch S4 and closing the forward travel pushbutton switch SF.

When the carriage reaches the end of its forward travel it will open limit switches LSF-l and LSF-Z and stop.

Reverse movement is produced by closing pushbutton switch SR. At the end of its reverse movement the carriage will open limit switches LSR-l and LSR2 and stop.

After the measured strands have been cut off and the strand ends from the source gripped, the pushbutton switch SF is closed and the described dispensing and measuring procedure repeated.

It will be seen that the invention provides convenient, accurate, and easily operated apparatus for dispensing and measuring strand material. While counter observation and manual strand release by an operator is illustrated it is to be understood that automatic strand release as a given length has been pulled out may readily be provided, as for example, by setting release impulse producing elements at selected points along the track in a manner similar to that in which tab stops are provided on a typewriter.

While one embodiment of the invention has been described for purposes of illustration, it is to be understood that there may be various embodiments and modifications within the general scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for measuring and dispensing a plurality of cables from a plurality of reels comprising a movable carriage adapted to be moved along a platform, a plurality of clamping devices suitably mounted to said movable member for holding said plurality of cables, a source of alternating current voltage, a three phase motor for moving said carriage along said platform to cause said plurality of cables to be unwound from said reels, a forward switch to control the forward movement of said motor, a reverse switch to control the reverse movement of said motor, a plurality of solenoid devices associated with said clamping devices, a plurality of manually operated switches connected to said solenoid to permit current to flow through selected ones of said solenoids when said manually operated switches are closed by an operator, a counter adapted to indicate incremental movements of said carriage along said platform, a counter switch mounted to said carriage, an arm connected to operate said counter switch to actuate said counter when said arm is physically moved by external means, a plurality of spaced rod elements spaced along said platform at predetermined distances and disposed to physically engage and move said arm to close said counter switch as said carriage is moved along said platform thereby changing indications on said counter to represent the distance moved by said carriage, a plurality of push buttons associated with said solenoids disposed to be manually operated by an operator to cause current to flow through selected ones of said solenoids to cause associated clamping devices to be released whereby selected cables held by said clamping devices are released from said carriage, a pair of limit switches connected to be actuated when said carriage is moved to predetermined limits along said platform, said limit switches becoming operative to prevent said motor from moving said carriage, and a stop switch for disconnecting said source of power to said motor to stop the movement of said carriage 2. The invention as set forth in claim 1 wherein said movable member may be moved in relatively small increments when said movable element is close to a desired position by alternately operating said forward and stop switches until the desired position is reached.

3. The invention as set forth in claim 2 wherein relay means are provided with contacts to prevent said motor to be actuated by a forward signal when the motor is being moved in a reverse direction and vice versa.

4. The invention as set forth in claim 3 wherein the source of voltage for said motor comprises a three phase alternating current of 440 volts.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,388,875 11/1945 Skinner 33-125 LEONARD FORMAN, Primary Examiner.

F. J. DAMBROSIO, Assistant Examiner. 

